As a young person about to graduate high school and enter the world of adulthood, there’s a lot of pressure for me to have my entire life planned out. Relatives are asking what college I want to go to, what job I want, and how much money I want to make. There are people constantly telling you what to do, what to be, and what to believe in. People expect you to make important decisions that’ll dictate your entire life, but people also forget that you’re just a 16-year-old who can’t even decide what to wear in the morning. So how can you possibly be expected to figure out your entire life right now?
Erik Erikson, a German-American psychoanalyst developed a theory that people of different ages develop based on the specific challenges they face and overcome. Erikson’s eight stages of development focus on how social relationships shape a person into who they are, and what their identity is.
Stage 5 is identity versus confusion, and tends to take place between 12 and 18 years old. This is a stage between childhood and adulthood, or adolescence. The main issue that people face during this stage is developing a sense of self. “Who am I?” and “What’s my purpose?” are common questions someone might ask themselves. To put it plainly, this is when it feels like you’re going through an identity crisis every single day of your life.
Vincent Chen, a psychology teacher at Roosevelt, explains in more depth what someone might experience at this age.
“Because you don’t know who you are, because you’re not sure, you have all these possible ideas; ‘I could be this’ or ‘I could be that.’ And so in this time you’re really exploring different friend groups, you’re hanging out with different people to see if you fit in.” Chen explains.
This is where people go through many different phases. High school is a time when there are so many people for you to meet, and so many different clubs or activities to join. You’re defined by your activities, your social circles, and your hobbies. Your interests are another huge part of who you are.
Alyssa Gutierrez, a junior at ERHS shares what identity means to her, and how her interests have shaped what kind of person she is.
“Identity to me is like, I love clothes like I love clothes so much. So I love experiencing everything. I feel like trying everything at least once is beneficial. I’ll do anything, I’ll try anything.”
Even though there’s a lot of pressure to figure out who you are, there’s no rush. There’s no easy way to find yourself, you’re constantly growing and evolving as a person, so finding who you are may be something you’re constantly doing. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Being able to grow as a person is an amazing thing, being a person is an amazing thing. So take your time, live your life to the fullest, and you may just find yourself along the way.
